Posts from Interior Design

I've always been a fan of floating shelves. They're the smooth operators of the shelf world, hanging on the wall as if by magic with no brackets, nails, or supports of any kind (that are visible, at least).

They also happen to be kitchen superstars, filling in design holes and solving storage problems with style and ease. Not sure where to put one in your kitchen? We've got 10 ideas.

Recently Dana offered some thoughts on organizing your cookbook collection. She acknowledged that how you choose to organize your cookbooks is all about personal preference, but if you need some visual inspiration, where better to look than our Kitchen Tour archives? Here's a quick peek at how 15 different cooks find ways to store their beloved cookbooks in the kitchen.

I'm about to show you one of my favorite kitchen types. It's what I like to call the Ugly Duckling kitchen — the kitchen with vintage cabinets, dated countertops, basic appliances, or other uninspiring details. The Ugly Duckling kitchen is often found in rentals, and likely hasn't been updated in a few decades. On the surface it really doesn't look like much.

But Ugly Duckling kitchens? They're beautiful in the hands of the right person, no gut renovation needed. Here's one example.

Some small appliances have all the luck. Instead of getting shoved in the back of a cupboard or left to gather dust on a bottom shelf, these small appliances get the red carpet treatment, with pull-out shelves and hidden cabinets devoted entirely to storing them in style and comfort. Ah... it's good to be a small appliance, at least if you're in one of these kitchens!

What's the best way to set up a kitchen? If you've been cooking for any length of time, you've either figured this out for yourself, in your own kitchen — or you are still looking for that magic solution. This diagram may not be how your kitchen actually looks, but the way it divvies up the space is useful information for any kitchen. Here's what we can learn from it.

The Home section of The New York Times has been a weekly read for us for years. Design-oriented sites like The Kitchn and Apartment Therapy (especially since we have our roots in New York City) have avidly followed the paper's take on decorating and home life. Well, no more.

Remember a few weeks ago when I said my dream kitchen was this Swedish beauty? Well, scratch that, because this West Village townhouse kitchen just trumped it. It's almost beyond the realm of believability. It's huge (which for a New York City kitchen already means we're treading in dream territory), the range is ridiculous, and the five floor-to-ceiling windowed doors open to a large back garden. I know. Just stop it.

While it may be hard to believe that we mere plebeians can learn anything from a kitchen so firmly planted in fantasy land, there are still ideas to steal. Here are five things I learned while drooling over — er, I mean looking at — this kitchen.

Call it a residential hazard, but I will never get tired of seeing the insides (specifically, the kitchens) of other homes in Brooklyn. There's something amazing about getting the chance to peek behind the scenes of the brownstones, lofts, and high rises that make up this borough.

You find lovely surprises — like this well-designed kitchen that has a lot to recommend it to our attention.

When it comes to dream kitchens, for me it doesn't get much better than this Swedish kitchen. Not only is the neutral color palette totally my jam, but it's the details that place this kitchen a cut above the rest.